When the Wild Beast is Trapped in the Nightmare Cycle (BL)
Chapter 321: Echo of the Past (10)

Chapter 321: Echo of the Past (10)

"Y–You...!" Momoko’s blue eyes stared at him like a deer caught in the headlights, and within them, Shen Nianzu could see the wheel of time spinning. She grasped Shen Nianzu’s wrist and made a desperate struggle, but upon noticing that she couldn’t budge him at all, tears began to well up in her eyes as she glared at him accusingly, "How dare you! Let me go at once, or else Toki will not forgive you!"

"Oh?" Shen Nianzu raised an intrigued brow. He recalled the words the guardian of the fountain had said and the rule stated in the brochure, and took a guess, "But it seems like your relationship with Toki is not that good?"

Momoko: !!

"Plus, he’s not even here right now. Isn’t it you who caused him to be lost in this labyrinth? Who do you think he will be angrier at, you or me?"

Momoko’s eyes widened in indignation and huge droplets of tears suddenly trailed down her cheeks, catching Shen Nianzu off guard. "S–Shut up, you don’t even know anything!" She cried out, extremely aggrieved. "Toki is not allowed to be mad at me! I am his big sister, it’s my right to bully him!"

Shen Nianzu’s interest was genuinely piqued by her words. This was the first time he had ever met a sibling of nightmare creatures, and judging from the high perfection degree of Momoko’s humanoid form, she ought to be included in the upper rank – as implied for the creatures who possessed keen awareness, superb combat power and high intelligence unlike the creatures he had encountered in the Shishen Apartment or Temple of Anubis. His divine prop, the Goddess of the Sea, was a prime example of the upper rank.

And from what Shen Nianzu could discern, these creatures were born or created as singular beings. Their high level of vigilance, arrogance and dignity meant that they would not easily form groups.

As for Momoko...

...Well, aside from her humanoid form, she did not appear as powerful or intelligent. Perhaps her rank was not that high, after all.

"Let go! Let go of me, you brute!" She struggled around like mad, though Shen Nianzu easily overpowered her.

He thought for a while before throwing another bait, "Your little brother, Toki, is the tour guide of this labyrinth? How awesome. What about you?"

Momoko’s attention was instantly diverted by that question. "Me?" She lifted her chin with an arrogant look. "Of course, I’m way better than Toki. I am Momoko, the faithful servant of Chronos!"

"Chronos? Who is that?" Shen Nianzu questioned. Could it be the core NPC they were searching for?

"Chronos is—" Momoko began, but then she abruptly froze and glowered at Shen Nianzu, the wheels of time in her eyes rotating even faster. "Wait, why am I telling you this? You have no right to order me around! Let go of me!"

Shen Nianzu felt a pang of regret. It seemed like this little girl was not as naïve as he initially thought. She came back to her senses pretty soon.

"Don’t you want to find your partner?" She pointed outside the door and hollered right in front of his face. "There, look! He’s right there! He has already left, you idiot. Besides, you have completed this attraction so there’s no need for you to linger here any longer. Go quickly, I don’t want to see your face anymore!"

Shen Nianzu instinctively turned to the direction she was pointing and his eyes widened in astonishment.

There, on the wall, was a door that had not been there before. It was a large, conspicuous red door with an ’EXIT’ sign on top, much like an emergency exit. It must be the door Jin Jiuchi was talking about. He was a hundred percent certain that it was not there before, or else there was no way he could miss it.

Echo of the Past. Just like the name implied, the attraction offered tourists a glimpse of the world before the apocalypse. As they battled with the memory loss, they also had to find the exit and survive before they could lose sight of themselves and be assimilated into this world.

Shen Nianzu and Jin Jiuchi had seemingly completed this challenge, indicating that they could leave.

However, Shen Nianzu’s feet remained rooted in place.

He still had a few things he wanted to ask. For example, if both of them had fulfilled the clearance condition, then why couldn’t they exit at the same time last night? Why did it feel like Momoko was trying to separate him from Jin Jiuchi? Moreover, the deceased Shen Nianzu whom Jin Jiuchi had seen in this place... which team did he belong to, and what had caused his death?

Alas, before Shen Nianzu could voice them aloud, blue electric sparks burst out of Momoko’s eyes to dance around her body. Alarmed, Shen Nianzu swiftly released his grip on her and retreated, his blade at the ready.

But in a blink of an eye, Momoko had vanished without a trace.

"Hehehe..." her voice echoed around him as though it had come from all directions. "Do you think it would be so easy to bully Momoko? Stuuupid!"

Shen Nianzu stood there, his gaze shifting from the vacant space where the little girl once was to the empty wall where the clock had disappeared. He clenched his fists, his brows knitting in agitation. Was it really okay for him to leave with so many questions left unanswered?

As though guessing his line of thought, Momoko spoke again, "You don’t want to leave? The exit will be closed in five... four..."

Damn it! Shen Nianzu gritted his teeth. He knew that he had no other option, he couldn’t risk being trapped in this place. It’s okay if he couldn’t obtain his answers here, perhaps he could try his luck somewhere else. He made his way toward the door and disappeared just as Momoko’s countdown reached one. In an instant, the exit door vanished and the room began to mend itself as though time had been reversed.

Amidst the unsettling silence, Momoko suddenly cackled out loud, her tone filled with mockery and schadenfreude.

"Foolish tourist," she spat toward the spot where the door had been. "You don’t even realize that you have broken the rule in this attraction. Well, since you’re mean to me, I will not tell you~"

The main rule in the ’Echo of the Past’: as spectators, tourists were not allowed to take any actions that could alter the future course of events, including but not limited to saving or killing the NPCs and creatures within.

And Shen Nianzu had done exactly that.

Momoko’s giggles reverberated in the now empty space, her seemingly innocent tone concealing a sinister malice that sent shivers down the spine of anyone who heard it.

***

Shen Nianzu emerged into a familiar dim corridor, the door sealing behind him with a resounding thud. The first thing he did was try to contact Jin Jiuchi through the earpiece, "Hello, Da Shen? Can you hear me? Da Shen!"

A full day had passed since Jin Jiuchi left the attraction. However, Shen Nianzu had no idea how the flow of time differed outside, nor could he discern Jin Jiuchi’s current whereabouts. The earpiece remained eerily silent, and he received no answers from the other side. His restlessness and anxiety peaked.

Where had Jin Jiuchi gone? Why didn’t he answer the earpiece? Had an accident happened to him?!

As more and more questions bored down on him, footsteps echoed from the far end of the corridor, jolting him to attention. He held his breath and watched as elongated shadows began to stretch across the floor. Then a familiar figure appeared in his line of sight.